Welcome to the home of the backcountry skiing blog from Off-Piste Magazine. Here we post backcountry ski gear reviews, feature stories and avalanche safety advice, plus ski news, events and more.
La Liste – Jérémie Heitz redefines steep skiing. Steep skiing evolves yet again – gone are the days of jump turns and mountaineering style descents. Young Swiss skiing phenom, Jérémie Heitz, sets a new bar for fluid freeriding of 45-55-degree ski lines. La Liste follows Heitz in his pursuit to ski 15 of the Alps’ steepest 4,000-meter peaks in just two ski… Read More
The DPS Ski Film Series – Shadow Campaign Volume IV – Episode 4 The DPS ski film crew travels to Kyrgyzstan for the latest ski film in their Shadow Campaign series, Song for the Nomad. The film highlights the Celestial Mountains of Kyrgyzstan as well as the traditional mountain culture all set to an original musical score. Here’s what DPS has… Read More
Patagonia Snowdrifter Softshell Ski Pants If you’ve ever ski toured in a pair of Gore-Tex ski pants, you know how little they really breathe when you’re working hard on the uptrack. Unlike our upper layers, no one changes leg layers while out skiing. Backcountry ski pants require breathability to manage the demands of the skin track. Waterproof and breathable sounds… Read More
Ski Bum Life – Less is more Here’s a quick bit of inspiration for anyone looking to buck the status quo of bigger, better more . . . John Shocklee puts a pretty nice spin on the less-is-more approach to living. May his simplicity inspire a new generation in search of… Read More
Deuter Rise Lite 28 Backcountry Ski Pack Review The rise of the avalanche airbag pack has taken some attention away from traditional backcountry ski packs. Airbag packs are a solid innovation in avalanche safety and have proven to be true life savers, but the reality is that most of us still use regular, non-airbag ski packs for human powered ski… Read More
Voile SuperCharger Ski Review As ski season approaches, we’ve got a few more ski reviews to share. First up is the Voile SuperCharger. It’s a carry-over ski from last season, but it would be crazy to leave the SuperCharger off our list of favorite backcountry powder skis. Voile launched the SuperCharger last season and Off-Piste chose it as one of… Read More
G3 SENDr 112 – Ski Review We have been fans of the G3 Empire for several seasons. It’s lightweight carbon build plus healthy width and rocker combined to deliver a surfy and playful ride in any soft snow conditions. Well, the next evolution is here and it’s a lot of fun, too: the 2018 G3 SENDr 112. The SENDr 112… Read More
Climbing Skin Maintenance and Glue Renewal Climbing skin glue does not last forever. It gets dirty, it gets patchy and it can get gooey. All of these problems leave your climbing skins performing poorly, and there’s nothing like lame skin glue to wreck an otherwise excellent day of skiing. But there are some climbing skin maintenance tips to help you avoid… Read More
As Promised, here’s Episode 1: The Space Within – the first installment of four DPS Cinematic Short Films. And here’s the official word from the DPS team: Exploring the tidepools of a deserted tropical beach, a young boy finds a mysterious treasure washed upon the rocks. ‘The Space Within’ whispers of another world, holding magic unlike anything he has seen… Read More
DPS Skis has just announced Volume IV of their ‘”Shadow Campaign” Film Series. As usual we can look forward to four new films. This year, the DPS Cinematic crew traveled to Kyrgyzstan, Japan and Alaska in search of adventure on snow. Individual episodes are scheduled for release on the third Thursday of September, October, November and December of 2017 –… Read More
It’s that time of year again. September is knocking at the door and the ski movie trailers are here to distract us from our precious workday schedules . . . Here’s what TGR has to say about their latest ski movie, Rogue Elements: Since the dawn of time, everything that has lived and breathed on this planet has been subject to… Read More
Patagonia Nano Air Light Hoody Finding the magic layering system that is warm yet breathable enough handle breaking trail and uphill travel is no simple feat. First off, everyday is different – sun, wind, temp, precip – they all vary by day and even aspect. Second, everybody is different – some of us run hot, others run cool. So how… Read More
Voile Shovel and Probe Giveaway We’ve teamed up with Voile to give you a chance to win a Telepack-mini Shovel and Tourlight Avalanche Probe. Just sign up below for our e-news letter (sent more or less monthly) before December 4, 2016 and you will be entered into the drawing. If you already receive our e-news, you can still enter to win the shovels… Read More
Winter Snow Forecast 2016-17 UPDATE – October 15, 2016 – NOAA Climate Center moves back to La Niña forecast! Skiers and weather forecasters talk a lot about El Niño and La Niña when gazing into their crystal balls in search of the winter snow forecast. And for good reason, El Niño (warm Equatorial Pacific sea surface temperatures) and La Niña (cool Equatorial… Read More
Tuesday Time Waster – Candide Thovex Edit The weather seems to have turned toward fall as the calendar turned to September this year. The Northwest mountains have only seen a trace of snow but the cool temps and grey skies help fuel thoughts of the winter ahead. But who needs snow to ski. Apparently, Candide Thovex doesn’t. This clip is… Read More
